Title

Authors

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

Similarities between the financial crisis in September 2008 and the collapse of the financial system during the depression have been widely noted. Yet the comparability of the origins and transmission of the crises have been neglected. The recent downturn, which originated with a pronounced housing boom and collapse, led to severe household balance sheet problems that were transmitted to lenders and mortgage security investors. Damage to household balance sheets weakened household demand - especially for housing and durable goods - which adversely affected employment, production, and non-residential fixed investment. This pattern, however, is not recognized in the dominant view as a possible cause of the depression. Contrary to prevailing views of the origins of the Great Depression, this paper argues that changes in levels of mortgage finance, residential construction, and the broader economy preceding and during the initial phases of the Great Depression shared many features with the recent Great Recession.

Comments

This chapter was originally published in Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective in 2014. The link above is to the authoritative publisher’s version, as noted by the Economic Science Institute, and may reside behind a paywall.

Recommended Citation

Gjerstad, S.D. and Smith, V.L. (2014). "Consumption and Investment Booms in the Twenties and Their Collapse in 1930," in Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective, Price Fishback, Eugene N. White, and Kenneth Snowden, Eds. University of Chicago Press for the National Bureau of Economic Research.